Moments
by Nyiestra
Summary: A series of drabbles about the Reagans, their relationships, and their lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Moments  
><strong>Summary:<strong> A series of drabbles about the Reagans, their relationships, and their lives.  
><strong>AN:** A drabble is a 100-word story, and I find them very fun to play with. I am looking for prompts to write to, so you all are invited to leave me some in the comments.  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> As much as I would love to own Danny Reagan (and the rest of them), I don't. All in fun; no money made.

**Prompt:** Shadows (Jamie)

More times than he cares to admit, Jamie's been forced to acknowledge, if only to himself, that his older brother was right. But never before has he wished harder that he'd taken Danny's advice a little bit more to heart.

He can hear Renzulli behind him, footsteps pounding the pavement, as he rounds the corner into a dark alley. The glow of the streetlight casts long shadows ahead of him, mimicking his steps almost before he takes them. He watches for the telltale glint Danny warned him about and by the time he sees it, it might be too late.

**Prompt:** Innocence (Danny)

Danny glances over his partner's shoulder at the twelve-year-old kid sitting in his desk chair, his jacket around her dirty shoulders. He doubts his dry cleaner will be able to make it wearable again, and then berates himself for even thinking something like that.

She's sick and thin and he figures the last time she showered had to be in the frigid October rain early last week. And as if that wasn't enough, she's sitting there in his chair because her only family in the world was just stabbed to death over a candy bar and a pack of cigarettes.

**Prompt:** Choose (Erin)

Nicky was locked in her room, no doubt with her earphones in and the volume turned up high. Erin couldn't remember the last time they'd had a conversation that didn't devolve into her struggling not to place blame, no matter where it belonged.

A framed photo of the three of them, laughing at what she couldn't recall, stared at her from the dresser, and allowing herself only a moment's thought, Erin added it to the top of her suitcase and zipped it shut before she could change her mind.

She left the door to their bedroom wide open behind her.

**Prompt: **Hurt (Linda)

There are so many things that go along with marrying into NYPD: a husband who never leaves home without a loaded gun, going to bed at two in the morning when he still isn't home, the family events and children's birthdays that get put on hold because lives are at stake. There's no competing with the gun, the shield, or the adrenaline rush that leaves him wide awake when he finally rolls in at five a.m.

And she can deal with it all. But sitting by his hospital bed, praying that he won't leave them—that's too much to ask.

**Prompt:** Believe (Frank) (consider this a preview for the third story in my Broken 'verse)

"Something occurred to me," Danny says from the doorway, and Frank very slowly puts down the file he's been reading—the investigation into Danny.

He has to admit that, if it was any other suspect, it'd be weaker than he'd like to see. Given that it's his son they're trying to send to prison, though, there's a part of him that feels that even the circumstantial evidence they've gathered is just too strong. "What's that?" he asks, tone giving away nothing of his thoughts.

"Even my own family doesn't believe me, how the hell can I expect anybody else to?"

**Prompt:** Trust (Jackie)

The barrel of their suspect's gun is about to drill a hole in her temple.

She stays perfectly still, tracking her partner with her eyes as he moves closer, keeping to cover.

"Don't do it," she whispers, her voice hoarse from lack of oxygen.

And then Reagan surrenders, and her captor's grip slackens just enough at his apparent success. And then her partner's weapon comes up and she feels the bullet soar by her ear. He's dead instantly—and she isn't.

"Told you to trust me," he murmurs with a smirk that isn't as steady as he'd probably hoped for.

**Prompt: **Live (Danny)

Some days it takes everything he has just to get out of bed, to leave the house, to keep his mind here, in the relative safety of the states, rather than letting it race back to the hell that was Iraq.

There are days it takes more than everything he has, days it's so tempting just to give in, give up, stop fighting. Feels like he's spent his whole life fighting, sometimes.

And then Linda walks through the door, Jack half a step behind and Sean on her hip, and he remembers what he's spent his whole life fighting for.

**Prompt:** Balance (Erin)

The house is dark, except for the over-the-counter light in the kitchen. It's also silent, which means Nicky is hiding behind her iPod and a closed bedroom door. Erin leaves her briefcase on the couch and her jacket by the door before starting for the refrigerator and hoping there's something there for dinner.

"I made mac and cheese." Her daughter's voice, which she hasn't heard enough lately between the silent anger filling their little apartment and the long hours she spends outside of it, makes her jump. "I would've made more but I didn't think you'd be home before midnight."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Going back in time a few years. Also, I've constructed my own timeline for Danny's sons ages and his tours in Iraq; no idea if they'll be ruled non-canon down the road, though.

**Prompt:** **Engage** (Linda)

Danny officially welcomes John into the family as his new brother-in-law, just a hint of warning in his handshake. Linda knows where he's coming from—there's something about him that bugs her, too, though she isn't as adamant about it as Danny—or Frank, or Joe, or Henry for that matter.

Erin is watching, apprehensive, and Linda knows where she's coming from, too. Her ring glitters on her finger and she vividly recalls her mom and Wendy's displeasure at the news. They won't ever be thrilled but, as Danny grins and heads her way, she knows she's okay with that.

**Prompt:** **Plunge** (Joe)

Teeth chattering, uniform dripping with icy water and whatever else is in the Hudson, all Joe wants is a shower, a course of antibiotics, and maybe a couple of radiation treatments. He agrees to strip out of his wet clothes in the back of the ambulance, gratefully accepts the blanket and spare uniform the EMTs offer him, and obediently allows them to take him to the hospital.

Danny is at the ER before they arrive, and at least makes sure Joe isn't dying of hypothermia before he advises him to call a doctor if he starts growing a third arm.

**Prompt: Tour **(Linda)

Summer in the city is miserable, made worse by the fact that she's pregnant out to here and only slightly improved by her husband being home on leave. Some days, she wishes she'd packed up and moved to base with him, but she's better off staying in the city with the family to help her out.

She plops down on the couch, anxious to lose her shoes, and calls out to him. Danny walks in, cell still in hand, expression breaking her heart before he says a word.

He's deploying. "When?"

He looks at her swollen belly and swallows. "Monday."

**Prompt: Haunted** (Frank)

His oldest is almost the same man he was before the towers fell, before a sense of duty to country drove him back into the open arms of the Marine Corps. He still cradles baby Sean the same way he had Jack, still stares in wonder at the children he and Linda brought into this world together.

It's really only on the rare opportunities Frank gets to look straight into Danny's eyes, that he can see how haunted his son his by what went on over there, by secrets buried so deeply he doubts Danny could even find them again.

**Prompt: Blood** (Danny)

You can't work homicide if your knees go weak at the sight of blood, so Danny really hopes no one notices the way he's holding the wall up as paramedics clean and bandage the gash on Joe's head.

In his defense, that's his younger brother sitting a few feet away, a bright red stream flowing into his eyes, the product of a bullet that was just a hair off its mark. Joe could have died right in front of him, but instead he's sitting in a puddle in an alley, dazed but still breathing.

Danny thinks he might be sick.

**Prompt: Family** (Jamie)

There's more to his decision to go into law, to head to Cambridge, a city where the Reagan name doesn't automatically trigger a glimmer of recognition, if not an observation of "Frank's son, eh?"

Jamie loves his family, would do anything for them and knows they feel the same, but he wants to escape. He's outright running from the name, the family tradition—the obligation to serve inherent in the Reagan bloodline.

He just hopes that when he tells them he's planning to become a defense attorney, his grandfather doesn't die of a heart attack there at the dinner table.

**Prompt: Caught** (Erin)

She doesn't wear bright red lipstick, like the shade on the edge of John's white collar, or that suffocating perfume he reeks of when he walks in, and for a second or two she wonders when he stopped caring whether or not she noticed. Maybe he'd stopped caring when she didn't notice.

But she's wearing heels and a black dress, and the pearls he gave her on their wedding day, and they have reservations at Spago in an hour.

And it's all she can do not to pitch her wedding ring at her head, because now he has her attention.

**Prompt: Threat** (Joe)

He can't deny the way his heart pounds as Malvesky walks away, his words still ringing in Joe's ears.

He's not a rocket scientist—Jamie and Erin got the brains in the family—but he knows a threat when he hears one, even concealed under a thick layer of concern that doesn't quite ring true.

Joe leans back against the counter, still breathing hard as the adrenaline rush of being cornered by a man he knows wouldn't hesitate to kill him starts to fade. He watches, heart heavy, as Malvesky slings his arm around Danny's shoulder in the next room.


	3. Chapter 3

**allison** - Some of these are still back in time a bit; some aren't. The next set is more childhood/young adulthood, that I'm having a bit of fun with.

**iris** - That's one thing about writing drabbles; with only 100 words, you have to pick each one very carefully.

**A/N:** Fair warning, y'all; I made myself sad writing some of these.

**Prompt:** **Change** (Danny/Linda) (double-drabble—I just couldn't make this 100 words)

"Can I ask you something?" Danny speaks as Linda slips her hands into a sink full of sudsy water; he doesn't need to see the good-natured eye roll as she reaches for a towel. "When we got our thing going—did you look at me like maybe you could change me?"

She rests a hip against the counter in the way she knows drives him crazy, and an easy smile plays over her lips as she shakes her head. "Back then, with the leather jacket and the cigarettes and the attitude—you were the bad boy. The beginning, it was a turn-on." She licks her lips. "Then, once we got started, it was a victory—you coulda had any of those girls, probably even all of them, and you picked me."

"After Iraq, it was a reality check." The smile disappears, replaced by an expression he sees too often now. "It wasn't just the leather jacket and the cigarettes. It was the anger… and the alcohol."

He drops his eyes to the floor, but she reaches out and tips his chin up, forcing him to meet her gaze. "And you know something, Danny? I never once regretted any of it."

**Prompt: Punch** (Erin)

Danny's been making so much noise about her dating Brandon that Erin almost can't work up the courage to knock on his door, even after driving all the way there. But she has nowhere else to go.

He's in boxers and has his gun in hand, both of which remind her that it's three in the morning.

But he doesn't tell her it's late, or ask why she's there or who gave her the black eye. He doesn't even tell her he told her so.

He just pulls her into a hug and promises he'll kill Brandon in the morning.

**Prompt: Scare **(Linda) (for my dear LJ friend, Ginchy, who **IS** going to take me with her next time she sees NKOTB, lol)

Linda walks into the beauty salon and every eye is focused on the same television set. She can't tell what's happening, and her usual hairdresser intercepts her on the way to the TV, voice too bright and high-pitched. Fake.

She pulls Linda toward the shampoo sinks, chattering about trying something new, but Linda barely hears her because now she can see.

Danny is on TV, hands raised level with his head. As she watches, the camera pans back to show a man with an arm around the throat of a teenage girl and a gun aimed at her husband's head.

**Prompt: Argument** (Danny)

His temper is shorter since he's been back; Danny's man enough to admit that Linda doesn't deserve to be snapped at so often. But that doesn't stop him from grabbing a spare blanket and making a bed for himself on the couch downstairs. The throw pillows are irritating, with all their stitching, but he'd rather deal with having the imprint of a flower on his face for a few minutes come morning than go upstairs and apologize.

But when three a.m. rolls around and she comes and asks him to come to bed, he doesn't let pride stop him, either.

**Prompt: Patient** (Joe)

Joe sets the binoculars back on the dashboard and rolls his neck before reclining the seat a little. Might as well get comfortable. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sonny watching him, a bemused expression on his face. "What?"

"You actually look like you're enjoying yourself." Malvesky retrieves the binoculars, toying with the strap because there's not actually anything to look at; their suspect is a boring, fifty-something man who apparently hits the sack by 9:30 every night.

"I got cheeseburgers, candy bars, coffee, and something other than infomercials to watch all night. What's not to enjoy?"

**Prompt: Death** (Danny)

"Reagan."

Danny has done his share of next of kin notifications, and he's always wondered how the husbands or wives or parents or children know what he's going to say before he says it. But when his sergeant says his name, nods his head toward his office, it all makes sense, because he just knows.

He knows it's bad, and he knows, somehow, that it's Joe. He can barely force himself forward, and he drops into a chair before Sarge can even tell him to. His heart is in his throat, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"I'm sorry, Dan."

**Prompt: Son** (Frank)

The sight of his boys freezes Frank where he stands, and for a moment he can't even breathe.

They've been together, his three sons, since the day Jamie was born. Danny's time in the Marines and Jamie's decision to go to law school, the occasional bloodshed during childhood fights and the differences of opinion among three accomplished, mature adults—nothing could ever, truly, separate them.

Even now Danny and Jamie are standing side by side, Joe's open casket to Danny's left and a photograph of Joe, smiling, in his uniform with the American flag as a backdrop, to Jamie's right.

**Prompt: Funeral** (Henry)

No man should ever bury his son. It just isn't right; it's not the way things should be. He's watched too many grieving mothers and fathers stand in the front pew of this church, saying good-bye to their sons and daughters one final time.

But, although it feels like it should, time never stops. The world keeps turning. Parents learn to live without their children.

And if that defies the natural order of things, he's not sure there's a word for a man watching his grandson laid to rest in a flag-draped coffin.

But that happens far too often, too.


	4. Chapter 4

**kpaige26 **- I'll take that under advisement. This next set are childhood, so no Nicky, but I'll keep her in mind for next time.

**A/N:** And back in time again, even farther now. Had some fun with these.

**Prompt: Break** (Jamie)

"I dare you."

Jamie doesn't even like Ricky, which is exactly why he can't back down from the dare. So he kicks his legs as hard as he can and when the swing is about level with the top bar, he jumps.

And lands. And screams.

Danny is running across the lawn to him before he can start crying, and Jamie bites his lip hard, trying not to cry. He doesn't look at his leg, because he'll start bawling like a baby, and even when Danny broke his arm in three places falling out of a tree, he didn't cry.

**Prompt: Hours** (Erin)

Ma never lets them stay up after ten; not even Danny gets to, and he's in high school. But there was a weird phone call right before she turned off the news, and now it's going on eleven and Erin's waiting for Danny to ask if something's happened to Dad, because… she isn't sure why, but it seems like it should be Danny.

Jamie's asleep on Ma's lap, and Joe's got his head on Erin's shoulder, twitching every so often because he's trying to stay awake even though he really can't. And now it's midnight, and Danny's still not asking.

**Prompt: Graveyard** (Jamie)

Jamie follows Tim through the gate, by the sign warning trespassers away. His flashlight beam glides over headstones from the 1800s, where they're visible at all through the grass that comes to his knees. He's asking for trouble, because the cops know teenagers think graveyards are great for hanging out on Halloween. Joe told him so.

It's not like they're doing anything wrong, exactly—until Tim produces a bag of what looks like ma's oregano but probably isn't, and Jamie really hopes the blue flashing lights that appear out of the darkness belong to one of his older brothers' cars.

**Prompt: Stoned** (Danny)

He knows it's stupid, smoking out back of the school, not least 'cause the principal's got his dad on speed dial—and he's off today, too, after pulling extra hours the last couple of nights 'cause of a string of bank robberies.

Mike giggles like Danny's little sister and lights another joint, passing it off before he even takes a hit himself. They've had better weed. Mike's brother deals, and Danny's dad would kick his ass if he knew he was hanging out with McKinley at all, never mind getting high with him—which is exactly why he does it.

**Prompt: Middle** (Joe)

Jamie's whining, and Danny's stomping around the house. Erin's shut up in her room with her music blaring, and he'd do the same thing if he didn't already have a headache from listening to them all. He was hoping to go play baseball, but his conscience won't let him leave his little brother alone with the other two.

So he kneels down next to his baby brother, and starts rebuilding the tower that Danny walked right through in a fit of rage about God only knows what, and after a few minutes Jamie forgets what he was even crying about.

**Prompt: Torn** (Jamie)

Jamie doesn't miss Joe watching him lie to mom about how both knees of his brand new jeans had gotten torn to shreds, and he figures he'll be in for it as soon as he gets to his bedroom. But Joe never says anything.

And then, the next morning, instead of taking off early to walk with his friends like he has ever since he got into high school, Joe makes himself late and goes with Jamie to the bus stop instead. He doesn't say a word, but Jamie's pants are in one piece when he gets home that afternoon.

**Prompt: Drugs** (Danny) (no, not Danny being a stoner again)

Somehow, he notices Erin across the sea of half-drunk teenagers, stumbling, as Bobby Reid guides her up the stairs.

He climbs over people to reach them before Reid can lead her into the nearest empty bedroom. Erin glares as Danny yanks her hand from Reid's and then slams him up against the wall, reminding him how stupid he must be to try something on Danny's little sister. And she might not be talking to him now, even if she could make sense, but he knows she'll appreciate it tomorrow—even if she won't thank him, because she doesn't need to.

**Prompt: Rob** (Joe)

There can't be anything worse than getting caught by the store owner with the bottle of whiskey in his pocket. Then he gets yelled at by their mother in front of Erin, and Jamie, and worst of all Danny, who somehow never gets caught even though he does way dumber things. And there can't possibly be anything worse than that, for sure.

Then his father gets home, and doesn't yell, or threaten to put him over his knee like he's ten all over again. All he does is stand in the doorway and look disappointed, and that's definitely the worst.


End file.
